First Competitive Team -- How Can I Make this better?

[AWailOfATail]

I'd say take Skarmory over Haxorus. You lose an Ice resistance, but the problem is that Zone's been becoming more common. You can't exactly take Donphan though, another Ice weakness will suck. You are lacking a spinner, though, so sash on Zone won't do much. You could try Forretress instead of Skarmory, though.
(I'm too lazy to format on my phone)
Lefties
252 HP 252 Def 4 SpD
+Def -SpA
-Stealth Rock
-Spikes
-Rapid Spin
-Explosion / Toxic Spikes / Toxic

Does Forretress even get Toxic? It could help with some dragons. I think. I should probably try that.

 

[Kaiburr66]

Magnezone is a problem for both Skarmory AND Forretress thanks to thunderbolt and hidden power fire respectively. That's the reason I run it! I think I'll play skarmory > forrestress just because of roost, sturdy, and whirlwind to get rid of that nasty magnezone. The only issue is that yes, I lack a spinner. And that's a big problem! =/ I think Forrestress has too big of a weakness to any type of fire move to really consider with Heatran, Volcarona, Sunny Day teams, and the like running around often in this meta. Blahhhhhh. I want Skarmory but I want Rapid Spin! >:(

 

[Kaiburr66]

What if I switch Gliscor for Skarmory: I keep a strong physical wall this way WITH the ability to throw down spikes

And what if I switch Haxorus for Jellicent: Gives me water type coverage, burns, and the option of having a special wall.

These changes give me two potent walls both with the ability to recover hp, resist lots of damage, and inflict hazards on the enemy team. Thoughts?

 

[AWailOfATail]

Still no spinner... If you do that with Skarmory you can get rid of Haxorus for Donphan or Starmie. Or Spinda. Spinda's pretty good. Idk why it's not Ubers. Use Spinda. Sarcasm? What? I don't know what you're talking about.
(But seriously, try Donphan. Ice Shard ALL the dragons!)

 

[GenoAzelf]

I used a team like this at one point, with two dragons as a core and then a steel. The main issue I see with this team is you have too many revenge killers. One of the dragons should lose the scarf and get a setup move, like SD on Chomp or DD on Hax. I'd recommend keeping ScarfChomp, personally, and replacing Hax with the following Mixed Salamence:

Salamence Lum Berry
64 Atk / 192 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
-Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
-Earthquake
-Outrage


This Salamence does well with ScarfChomp (I've used it) and is generally great at coming in early and punching holes in teams. The Lum Berry lets you use Outrage without getting confused, which is incredible.

 

[Kaiburr66]

Did the Skarmory/Jellicent swap and this was my first match with the setup: http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/ou-57958464

Ditto got rocked real fast so I thought it was gonna go pretty bad, but it turned out well! Other than a bullet seed ohko on my jellicent, I did a good job predicting things, I think!


Should I try the mixed Salamence over Jellicent? I'm definitely keeping Scarfchomp and I'm not changing that. It is probably the main sweeper for my team in most games, so it has got to stay!

 

[Kaiburr66]

After win after win after win, I'm going to lock in these roster changes for now. OP has been updated. The team is flowing so much better than before and I have so many of my weaknesses checked or hard countered. Can't wait to see what you guys throw at me next! :) Thanks for all the input so far everyone!

 

[AWailOfATail]

I would switch Spikes to Stealth Rock on Skarm. Ends up more useful in the long run. Either that or ditch Dragon Claw with SR on Garchomp. Even though it's Scarfed, it still works. You need those rocks for Dnite after Ditto's gone.

 

[Kaiburr66]

Gonna change them now!

 

[DracoNinja]

Nice team here.

I would change Skarmory's set to a custap lead with 252Atk/252Speed @Custap Berry with Stealth Rock/Spikes/Taunt/Brave Bird. Basically Skarmory sets up a layer of SR and spikes before it dies, more than enough for your team to take advantage of the hazards and start tearing down the opponent's team.

To make the team more offensive-based, I would change Jellicent into Gengar. I would prefer using a SubDisable set as it allows you to force switches, and the entry hazards damage will rack up over time, thus giving your team a much easier way to break down the cores of your opponent's team.

Finally, I would change Shadow Ball on Alakazam to Encore, as it allows you to again force many switches and be an ass to common set up users, such as CM Latias, forcing them to switch out or die.

Hoped I helped, and good luck.

 

[Kaiburr66]

Hey Draconinja! Thanks!

I like the Ditto lead right now (let's me 1hko sweeper leads or set up hazards depending on the enemy lead) and I don't want to switch Skarmory to a custap lead. If I do this, I lose my physical wall and Skarmory becomes something only useable for hazard set up. If he dies right away, the enemy can spin once he's dead and I lose the advantage I had before. I want to keep skarmory alive as long as possible to be able to switch in to physical attacks and provide hazard set-up when appropriate.

Changing Jellicent to Gengar seems more realistic to me than the other change, but I'd still be losing a strong wall that provides a decent counter to Latios and other special attackers. I will probably try Gengar when X/Y meta becomes more stable and I can play it as my mega.

Shadow Ball on Alakazam would force me to switch my HP on him to a different type to be able to be super eggective on other alakazams and psychics. Encore is really good so I might have to look into changing that, though I don't know if shadow ball is worth losing :c I will need to test changes!

Thanks for the input! :)

 

[DaveScottMustaine]

You should create another thread, with the roster that youre playing right now. Then, I think everybody can post the suggestions. Think about it, because im very confused of what are you playing right now.

 

[AWailOfATail]

Or just update the OP...
Anyway, I can't find much else wrong with it. I'm leaving it to you guys.

~AWailOfATail
(I might be back, but it won't be my first priority.)

 

[Kaiburr66]

The roster I'm playing right now is updated in the OP though! The current team I am playing is all broken down there.

And thanks for all the help AWailOfATail! You've contributed a heck of a lot! :)

 

[noobcubed]

At the moment I'm not terribly convinced by Magnezone. I get that you're trying to clear the way for Garchomp but I also don't particluarly like the idea of Scarf Garchomp as an endgame cleaner, mostly because of stuff like Scarf Latios and Scarf Keldeo still revenging it. Plus Magnezone is pretty much not doing anything besides killing Steel-types.

Personally i think this set has some mileage:

Haxorus @ Life Orb

- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Dragon Dance
- Taunt

Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Nature: Adamant

Basically, once you get to +2/+2 your opponent is in big trouble. Earthquake is probably the best coverage move. Taunt can allow you to sneak past some Skarmory once it's taken a little prior damage by stopping it phazing you out, and Outrage is so stupidly powerful that it does at least 40% after a Dragon Dance.

Yeah, like someone else mentioned, Encore Alakazam could buy you a set-up opportunity, but you have to predict well, and predicting the lower ladder is near impossible when they do such irrational things. If you really need a set-up opportunity Wobbuffet is your guy, and that would also solve the Scarf Latios problem. (Maybe Ditto and Wobbuffet on the same team is too annoying for opponents, I don't know - still, it allows you to secure your own set-up opportunities while not caring too much about your opponents', which is cool).

Just throwing some ideas out there.

 

[Kaiburr66]

I do really like that Haxorus set! I'm actually gonna go test out that Haxorus in a few games to see how it does! Looks brutal! >:]

I know you don't like Magnezone much, but check this replay out: http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/ou-58072345 Magnezone KOd 5 of the 6 pokemon on this team. Granted, two were steels (Jirachi + Ferrothorn) but it let me pick off Starmie, Breloom, and a Togekiss. With almost 400 special attack and a choice specs, Magnezone has some ridiculous special attack. And of course, as we've both already stated, it kills steels easily. If I can bait out a ferrothron/forretress/skarmory with my Garchomp (its almost a guarantee the opponent will swap to one fo these expecting Outrage/Dragon Claw) it makes the game a 6 vs. 5 in my favor just because magnezone 99% of the time guarantees the KO.

I have only run into a few wobbuffet so far and they've never made an impression on me. What does it do that helps with the set-up? And how does it stop Scarf Latios?

 

[noobcubed]

Okay, basically Wobbuffet allows teammates to set up by abusing Encore + Shadow Tag to lock an opponent into a useless move and then switching into a teammate to give it a free set-up turn. Wobbuffet traps and kills scarf users with Shadow Tag + Counter or Shadow Tag + Mirror Coat, depending on whether it is locked onto a physical or special move.

Like, it's a niche thing, but the problem with Haxorus is finding that space to set up. To a certain extent Skarmory can help it switch in by whirlwinding out opponents until it finds something harmless. Jellicent caan do likewise by burning stuff to weaken physical attackers.

Another thing is that, with Ditto waiting in the wings, nothing is going to dare setting up on Wobbuffet in order to try and OHKO it to get past it. If they do, you can Encore them and then switch into Ditto when the Encore is about to end, resulting in amusement as they get counter-swept.

 

[Kaiburr66]

Oh, okay! Thanks so much for explaining that to me! Definitely seems like a huge nuisance to the other team! So that would make Wobbuffet a bit useless against stall, right? I mentioned this here a day or two ago (I think), but Blissey/Chansey are huge problems for me. I had two different games where I lost to a chansey just because it could outheal me and heal any status ailments I gave to it or its teammates. There was a point where I had 4 pokes against an enemy Gastrodon and Chansey and I got demolished. They both could heal, gastrodon had toxic, and they both did somewhat decent damage. It was ridiculous. How do I stop Chansey/Blissey (or other super tanky healing pokes)?

 

[noobcubed]

Wobbuffet isn't that useless against stall, it can still encore Pokemon into useless moves. As for Blissey and Chansey, the best way to beat them is to turn them into set-up bait. That was actually another part of the reasoning behind the Haxorus set - it's a strong physical attacker (for killing pink blobs), that can either set up on chansey and blissey or pretty much force them out with taunt.

The absolute best counter to them is Gengar, whose classic substitute/disable/shadow ball/focus blast set totally walls blissey, can use disable to stop it recovering, can set up substitutes for free on it and can wear it down with focus blast (with smart use of disable to prevent it recover stalling you).